South Carolina passed legislation in May to ban post-20-week abortions throughout the state, and Governor Nikki Haley held a ceremony Thursday to sign the bill at Hidden Treasure Christian School in Taylors.
The bill, known as the S.C. Pain-Capable Unborn Child Protection Act, was proposed on the grounds that a fetus can feel pain at 20 weeks. This claim is still controversial as it has yet to be proved or disproved. The ban does not make any exceptions for cases of rape or incest.
The bill's sponsor, Representative Wendy Nanney, said that choosing Hidden Treasure, a Christian school for disabled children, was symbolic. She claimed that fetal abnormalities caused some of the students' disabilities.
Nanney and other anti-abortion advocates do not plan to stop at a 20-week ban.
"It's our goal to pass every law until Roe (v. Wade) is overturned," said Alexia Newman, director of the Carolina Pregnancy Center.